METHODS FOR AUTHORIZING TRANSMISSION OF CONTENT FROM FIRST TO SECOND INDIVIDUAL AND AUTHENTICATION AN INDIVIDUAL BASE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASED ON AN INDIVIDUAL'S SOCIAL NETWORK

摘要

A method of authenticating an individual based on an approved list of users, a black list of users, and the individual's social network, said social network defined by relationships among individuals and represented using a graph structure, wherein the graph structure has a plurality of nodes, wherein each node corresponds to an individual in the social network, and wherein a degree of separation between any two nodes is a minimum number of hops required to traverse the social graph from one node to the other, the method comprising: receiving inputs by the individual, said inputs including identifying information of the individual; generating a gray list based on the black list and the individual's social network, the gray list including identifying information of a set of individuals who are one degree separated from any user in the individual's social network on the black list; and authenticating the individual if the individual is connected to an individual that is on the approved list and within the graph structure along a path that does not traverse any nodes corresponding to individuals identified in the gray list.